Transcript

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>> FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, whom Trump repeatedly attacked, is stepping down. Reuters correspondent, Sarah Lynch, covers the justice department.>> Now we knew that this was coming. President Trump even broadcast this in a tweet not long ago. But we, nobody knew I don't think that this was going to be happening so soon.

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And from the reporting that we've done so far, we get the impression that a lot of people were taken by surprise that he was leaving this abruptly and this soon.>> McCabe may have drawn the ire of the president after Trump fired FBI director James Comey last May.

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McCabe assumed the role of Acting Director and staunchly defended his former boss.>> I can tell you that I hold Director Comey in the absolute highest regard.>> Facing an independent investigation of whether Trump or members of his campaign colluded with agents of the Russian government to win the 2016 election The White House and Republicans in Congress have raised questions about the motivations of senior officials of the FBI and the Justice Department.

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Trump's defenders have accused McCabe of bias. They question the role he played in the bureau's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. McCabe also came under fire after his wife ran unsuccessfully as a democrat for Virginia's state senate and took campaign funds from democratic organizations with ties to Hillary Clinton.

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In a tweet last December, Trump asked how can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leaking James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation be given $700,000 for wife's campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation? White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday said the administration played no part in discussions of McCabe stepping down.

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>> The president wasn't part of this decision making process.>> Sanders reiterated that the White House has full confidence in the FBI's current director, Christopher Wray.>> I, Christopher A. Wray,